The Boy king and The Dark Knights

XVII

WATCHING his best friend make breakfast for five, Roy grew a bit jealous at how fast Jason was taking to the whole fathering thing.

As a father, Roy felt like he was constantly grasping at straws, and he was constantly paralyzed by the fear of fucking up and hurting his kid.

But Jason was so assured of himself, interacting with his kid with a soft smile on his face, and Danny obviously adored Jason just as much as Jason adored him.

Kori and Bizzaro were still passed out on the living room floor, Roy had won the (very intense) game of rock-paper-scissors and got couch-sleeping-privileges.

Jason hasn’t let any of them share his bed with him like he usually did, something about setting a good example which Roy figured was just an excuse to be a stick in the mud.

Now he was sitting at the table and watching Jason calmly cook eggs, obviously lost in his thoughts.

“You know, I’m kinda jealous.” Roy said, and Jason turned to look at him.

“Of what? My dashing good looks?” Jason smirked, and yeah okay maybe Roy was also a bit jealous of that too. Or he was just attracted to it.

Sounded like a problem for future Roy to stay up at night about.

Now it was time to banter with his best friend and ignore his feelings.

“If I was jealous of anyone’s good looks it would be Kori’s, but nice try pretty boy.” Roy said, trying to imitate Jason’s roguish grin and probably failing horribly.

“Ok you have a point there, but you admitted you think I’m pretty, so I think I win here.” Jason used the spatula in his hand to gesture at Roy, and his heart was kinda melting at the domesticity in front of him.

“If you say so sweetheart.”

“So what are you jealous of then?”

Roy paused for a moment, and Jason stilled a bit too.

“I guess I’m a bit jealous of how good you are at this whole parenting thing.” Roy said, his eyes never leaving Jason. “You haven’t even been at it for more than a few months, and you already seem more levelheaded than I am with Lian.”

What he really wasn’t expecting was for Jason to snort, before softly smiling at him. “Well for one, it’s probably easier to parent a creepily mature seven year old than a literal toddler, and for two, it’s pretty bold of you to assume I have any idea what I’m doing.”

“But Danny is so comfortable around you!” Roy exclaimed, confused.